The Most Insane Revelations From My Scientology Movie

In My Scientology Movie, BBC journalist Louis Theroux talks to former members—and reenacts scenes with actors—in an untraditional twist on the Scientology exposé. Initially, Theroux says in the film, he wanted to try to examine the positive sides of the religion with actual members. But once he got shut down from the church, he decided to work with former members to reenact key scenes from Scientology's past. As he films, Theroux gets the contact he wants—but from Scientologists who follow, berate, and harass him.

Though the movie isn't the information-packed documentary that Going Clear was, it still provides some shocking allegations about the so-called "reign of terror" under leader David Miscavige. Esquire.com has reached out to the Church of Scientology for comment, but we have not received a response. Here are just a few standout details from My Scientology Movie.

Scientologists call their intimidation "squirrel busting."

Theroux explains the concept of "squirrel busting" while filming one of his reenactments. In Scientology, "squirreling" is doing things under the auspices of Scientology that are not actually following the rules. According to writer Tony Ortega, there has always been an" independent" Scientology movement , which takes the same principles but doesn't financially reward the church. That is the real problem here: finances.

The movie heavily features Marty Rathbun, the former inspector general of the church who has since left and become a vocal critic. According to the movie, the church claimed Rathbun was founding a competing organization, and so they hounded and harassed him for more than a year. Some of his harassers even wore shirts with "Squirrel Busters" emblazoned on the front. "Anything not official, authentic tech is terrible, deeply dangerous, and putting the entire fate of the planet and all planets at risk, because you're not doing it correctly," Theroux explains of Scientologists' mindset. Rathbun said the attacks got so bad that they started going after his adopted child, alleging that he was a foster parent just for the money.

The church would recruit people by promising them guidance on making it in Hollywood.

Former Scientologist Steve Mango explained that he was brought into the church through a "how to make it in Hollywood" seminar. Once there, he watched a video that said he could choose to walk out at any time—but he could also choose to "dive off a bridge or blow your brains out," and that would also be his choice. Eventually, he ended up becoming a full-fledged member of the church, spending $50,000 through the years. He would even hand out pamphlets promoting Scientology to strangers on the street.

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David Miscavige has only given one televised interview, ever.

The leader of Scientology since 1987, Miscavige has only appeared on television to be interviewed once. In 1992, he sat down with Ted Koppel on Nightline, and Theroux set out to cast an actor to recreate Miscavige's manic energy. "You've gotta have that intensity, because this is not some minor game," Rathbun says in the audition. "This is not just dying in this lifetime, it's dying, and dying, and dying, and being a smoldering ember that floats through space, hurtling through space. […] We'd rather have you dead than incapable. That's the training attitude."

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High-ranking members who misbehaved were placed in the "hole."

According to the documentary, high-level Scientologists who needed to be punished were sent to the "SP Hole," a place for "suppressive persons"—the church's term for anyone who went against the church. They put dozens of people inside an office space and made them sleep on the ground in sleeping bags. All the windows and doors were apparently barred and there was a security guard outside. Theroux and his team recreate the "hole" in the movie, in a scene in which the actor playing Miscavige enters the room and berates everyone inside.

Rathbun later took issue with the scene, calling it a "creation" rather than a "recreation," and that it ended up being more of a portrayal of Rathbun's behavior in the Hole rather than Miscavige's. But former member Tom DeVocht told Tony Ortega that the scene was accurate, and in fact reality "got so much more intense, and so much uglier, you wouldn't believe it." Theroux declined to comment to Ortega.

The drama between Theroux and Rathbun didn't end when the movie did.

In the movie, Rathbun casts actors to play Miscavige and Tom Cruise and guides them through reenactments of his time in the organization. But Theroux doesn't shy away from probing Rathbun on the terror he admittedly helped enforce while he was in the church, including punching another then-member in the face during an "auditing" session. The tension between the two of them gets stronger and stronger as the movie goes on.

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Rathbun disputes how he was portrayed in the film. Back in September, he complained that Theroux used him "as bait to incite the wrath of the Church of Scientology," and that the movie's producer misled him into thinking the team was genuinely trying to convey what Scientology really was.

When we finished the film, the first person we screened it to was Marty and he responded by sending us the following statement and inviting us to disseminate it as we saw fit:

The film is probably the final word on scientology's culture of violence. It takes the wind out of scientology's six-year campaign of loud, expensive denials, smears and attempts to cover it up. I think that exposing me as complicit – as well as someone with a ruthless streak - was a component critical to accomplishing the film's effect. As the filmmakers are aware, my view is that past efforts to paint the whistleblowers as faultless heroes has detracted from the credibility of treatments of the subject. It has also stunted the healing process of former members by encouraging the formation of new cults of personality. Perhaps this film will help on that score too.

It was therefore a bit perplexing to us that Marty seemed to undergo a complete volte face just before film was first released in the UK, for reasons best known to him. We have nothing but respect for Marty and remain immensely grateful for his willingness to collaborate with us on this film and the generosity with which he approached the project. It should however be said that there is literally nothing in his most recent characterisation of the film-making process that we recognise.

In an email to Esquire.com, Rathbun said he sent the statement in lieu of appearing at the film's premiere last year. He also claims he made it clear to the filmmakers that his opinion might change depending on how the film was promoted, and that his blog post in September still stands as his opinion. In that blog post, Rathbun took issue with how he was portrayed in the film, especially in his confrontational scene with Theroux in which he calls the host out for provoking the church.

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